The present invention relates to an improved combination cigarette and matches container.
Many persons who smoke cigarettes often find themselves with a package containing cigarettes with no matches or means for lighting the same. Cigarette smokers typically carry packages of matches or cigarette lighters on their persons, but is common for a person to lack means for lighting a cigarette at the time of need.
The process of providing a lighted cigarette, without a special combination package, can conventionally be inefficient, inconvenient and awkward. After producing a package of cigarettes from the person's clothing or elsewhere, the package must be opened, a cigarette removed, the package closed, the package returned to its place of storage, a book of matches or a cigarette lighter must be produced, opened, then a match must be struck or the lighter operated, then closed and returned to the clothing of the person or other place of storage.
A number of expedients have heretofore been proposed to improve upon the above-outlined procedure and to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional procedure of preparation of a cigarette for smoking. These have respective disadvantages, including the inefficiency involved because of the sequence of steps required, the somewhat difficult, excessive or awkward movements utilized in drawing and igniting a match while holding the container, or not having matches positioned for ease and convenience of manual grasping while holding the container.
Certain examples of prior art expedients are disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 1,726,8432 to Kornsweet relates to an arrangement wherein matches are elevated by spring action upon the opening of a container lid; Patent No. 3,017,9182 to Hardychuk relates to a telescoping container wherein cigarettes are elevated in an inner telescoping element by pulling a lid, and matches are cammed to extend outwardly at the side of the container by such action; Patent No. 3,021,9442 to Moore, utilizes a manually operable slider moving in slots to elevate matches adjacent to cigarettes in the container; and Pat. No. 2,975,8902 to Block discloses a container having a flap covering matches on a wall of a container, which flap drops open to expose the matches when a container lid is opened.